Labor strives to organize

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The struggle to organize and unionize the
American Working Class
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• Why did some Americans want trusts to be banned
  and how did the government respond?
• The United States governments policies
  concerning business practices most often
  benefited the industrialists
• and not the workers. Although the industrialists
  claimed that they wanted no government
  interference in the
• Economy (laissez-faire) they welcomed the
  interference when it helped them.
• The government did little to regulate business
  even thought the general public complained.
  Congress did pass
• the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, but this law
  was poorly written and failed to define what a
  monopoly was. It
• couldnt be enforced effectively.
• The government offered little support to the
  common worker. Because they were often distracted
  by government
• corruption, politicians paid little attention to
  the widening gulf between the rich and the poor.
  By1890, 75 of the
• wealth of the nation was held by only 10 of the
  people. Fifty percent of the population making
  less than 500
• dollars a year. They were a very cheap source of
  labor.

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• What types of working conditions did laborers
  face in this new age of rapid industrialization? 
• The American work forced was made up of
  immigrants (whom we will discuss later), rural
  Americans looking for
• a better life, African-Americans from the south,
  women and children. By 1900, one-third of the
  workforce was
• made up of immigrants.
• African-American men and women along with most
  women and children were relegated to domestic
  work during
• this period as unskilled White laborers and
  immigrants most often manned factory jobs.
  Workers had to face
• 10-12 hour day shifts for six days a week with
  their pay ranging less than ten dollars in most
  cases. These long
• days made workers quite fatigued by the end of
  the day and often accidents would take place on
  the job. Women
• and children were expected to work the same
  amount of time but get paid less. Many workers
  were injured on the
• job, but most employers felt no responsibility
  for the in juries and work-related deaths. Little
  effort was made to
• Improve conditions for the worker.
• The workers hardships went past the workplace,
  itself. Some employers sought to increase their
  control over the
• worker by building company towns. The company
  owned the workers housing and the retail business
  where they
• shopped. They received their pay in company
  script and this was used to pay their rent and
  buy goods at the
• company store. Prices at the store were higher
  than they would be at other locations because the
  company had a
• monopoly. Their entire paychecks would often pay
  for no more than food and clothing.

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• How did the Knights of Labor attempt to address
  the needs of many workers? 
• Workers began to call for change as conditions
  grew worse, but there was little they could
  unless they banded together.
• The Knights of Labor was one of the earlier
  labor unions. Nine garment workers from
  Philadelphia originally formed it. Started in
  1869, it was led by Uriah P. Stephens. By 1879,
  Terrence V. Powderly took over as leader. It was
  largely a white male organization until Powderly
  pushed for membership that included skilled and
  unskilled workers as well as women. Mary Harris
  Mother Jones became one of its prominent
  spokespersons.
• Women were encouraged to join but
  African-Americans were not allowed until 1883.
  60,000 blacks had joined by 1885. The union
  sought to be a color blind one, but many of the
  white male members were not in favor and much
  discrimination did exist. By 1886, 700,000
  members had joined.

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Uriah P. Stephens
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How did businesses react to strikes in the late
1800s and how did his affect the unions?

• There were many worker strikes from 1877-1886.
  The year 1886 became known as the Great Upheaval.
• The Knights of Labor had grown in popularity
  after the railroad strike of 1877 and a strike
  against railroad tycoon Jay Gould in
• 1884. These small victories gave workers
  confidence that they could win concession from
  owners if they sat y untied so membership
• in union increased.
• An economic depression in the early 1880s
  caused many workers to suffer wage cuts so the
  atmosphere was ripe for more strikes.
• In 1886, there were 1500 strikes across the
  country involving 400,00 workers. Many of them
  turned violent. One in particular caught
• the nations eye. It was the Haymarket Riot.
• 40,000 Chicago workers struck against the
  McCormick Harvesting Company on May 1st. They
  wanted an eight-hour workday.
• Unfortunately, many of the people who got
  involved in the strike were anarchists and
  political radicals. Anarchists opposed all types
• of government and on May 3rd, there was a
  confrontation between police and the strikers
  that left two strikers dead.
• The next day (May 4th) a meeting was to be
  held at Chicagos Haymarket Square. It was
  peaceful and small, but as the rally
• began to break up nearly 200 police arrived and a
  bomb exploded in their midst. The police
  responded with gunfire and when the
• smoke cleared, 70 officers lay wounded. Seven
  were killed and one civilian died.
• Eight anarchists were charged with the
  bombing. They were found guilty of incitement to
  murder and four were hanged.

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The Emergence of the American Federation of Labor
(A. F. of L)

• This even brought on a decline in worker activism
  because the riot got so much negative publicity
  from the media
• who blamed the strikers or all the violence.
  Employers took advantage of the negative
  publicity labor unions
• eceived. They started blacklists (no-hire lists)
  against labor organizers and forcing workers to
  sign yellow dog
• contracts before they could get work (promise not
  to join a union). There was a decline in union
  membership after
• this.
• A new union was formed in 1886 as the skilled
  laborers wanted to distance themselves form the
  unskilled. The
• American Federation of Laborled by Samuel Gompers
  was established and it consisted of separate
  craft
• unions that allowed only white skilled laborers
  into their ranks. In 1892, there was a strike at
  Andrew Carnegie's
• Homestead Steel Works (company town). In June
  workers went out on strike to protest wage cuts.
  The mangers
• instituted a lockout and hired 300 guards to
  protect the plant. There was a violent clash and
  16 people were killed
• in July.
• In George Pullmans sleeping-car factory and
  company town outside Chicago (south side),
  Pullman ordered
• that wages be cut, but he didnt lower rent nor
  did he lower the cost of goods in the company
  store. Eugene V.
• Debs, head of the American Railway Union,
  supported the Pullman workers and urged his union
  members to
• refuse to work or ride in Pullman cars. This
  brought rail traffic to a near halt. The rail
  companies asked the federal
• government to step in (since it was interfering
  with interstate commerce and the delivery of
  mail). The government
• ordered the strikers to stop, but Debs and the
  ARU didnt. The government jailed them and
  President Grover
• Cleveland called in federal troops to break up
  the strike and force everyone to go back to work
  or be fired.

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Thus, the government stepped in on the side of
the owners and the workers remained at a
disadvantage. A true laissez-faire economy
didnt exist. The owners got help from
thegovernment when it needed it in order to
suppress the rights of workers.